Friday, December 26, 2008

So we did our family Christmas on Christmas Eve, and then went up to Alabama yesterday. On Christmas Eve I got everything I knew I was getting, and got a few surprises. I got a new set of scriptures...I got all excited and thought it was a book I had wanted for awhile...so I rip into the package...only to find a quad. Oh well, it is a book I want too :)

In Alabama I got mainly cash...then when we played Dirty Santa I got a wallet after stealing it back multiple times. I had wanted a different wallet, but we made a rule that after an item was stolen 3 times it couldn't be stolen anymore. So I stole the wallet I wanted, and somebody else stole it for the 3rd time so I didn't get it. But I stole a different wallet a 3rd time that was a little nicer, so I was happy.

We still have one more Christmas day on January 1st when my aunt and uncle get home from their trip, and we do christmas at my Grandparents. I can't wait for that one because I am getting more that I wanted :D

Anyway, overall it was a good christmas. I am about to leave to get some last minute christmas shopping done for a few people at church, so I will post more later!!!!

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

I have come across this on The Times and Seasons Blog. It's under "Get thee hence, Santa". I have copy and pasted because I think it is very interesting.More detail than I had heard before.

"Yes, my child, it is very likely that he is real, but people have changed him a lot over time. You see, ‘Santa’ really means saint and ‘Claus’ is actually the nickname for Nicholas. The real Santa Claus was actually the bishop of a small city called Myrna which was in the country we now call Turkey. Nicholas was a very kind, caring and loving bishop for all of the members in his ‘ward’ or church. He was born to a very wealthy family and when his parents died he became a rich man. Nicholas had a very strong testimony of the Saviour and truly believed in Jesus’ teaching that, “Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, you have done it unto ME.” So when ever he saw a person or a family in need in his church he took some of his money and secretly gave it to them. One simple way he did this was to put the coins, usually gold or silver, in a small bag with a tie string. He then waiting until the family was asleep and then toss the money through their window. Once, it is said, the bag of coins landed in a sock that was drying out after being washed and this is thought to be how the custom began to hang stockings at Christmas. Throughout his whole life Nicholas continued to give his money away anonymously (secretly) to all that he knew needed it. When he died his fortune was gone but the fame of his kindness and generosity became a legend. It was in the 1800’s when artists began to draw Saint Nicholas without his religious robes and started to show him in a fur trimmed suit. It was the Dutch who called him in their language “Sinta Klaus” and the English who changed this to “Santa Claus”. Saint Nicholas was living the Gospel to the best of his understanding by sharing his wealth with the poor, just as the Saviour gave us all of His wealth, the gift of forgiveness after sincere repentance and the gift of eternal life with Him and our Father in heaven. So when you see the jolly fat man with the long white beard and the red suit, remember that fellow is a bit of a fantasy cartoon character but Saint Nicholas was a real bishop who lived a long time ago and who loved his ‘ward’ members very, very much."

The nest is still full with Shelley and Brad with us for a little bit more. We are all trying to be on our best behavior! It has truly been fun to have them here with us. Sunday night was especially fun as Jared and Ashley were also here for dinner and then everyone played a new game Brad brought, "Sliders". At first glance it didn't look like it was going to be very fun, but it turned out to be a hit! Now Michael has bought one for his family too. So we definitely recommend it.

A friend lent us the very short read, "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" by Barbara Robinson. Even if you don't like to read, honestly, this is a short easy book to digest and very significant at this time of year.

I hope to get Matt to post a picture of our Santa Claus find this year. We were visiting the county dump and someone had discarded him. The man who oversees this area did not want to throw him away. He is one of the larger animated ones. His animation days are over and his left shoulder had obviously been visited by a hungry dog or rat...his poor foam insides were showing through. I just can't help loving Santa Claus and didn't want to see him thrown away either. A sudden thought popped into my mind that he just needed a good old toy bag...we dragged him home and my old laundry bag from college days fit the bill! We are happy to give this Santa Claus one more year of jolly display on our front porch. Unfortunately, his shoulder issue has become much worse each time the toy bag is knocked off, once by the neighbor dog who must have felt he was a threat to eating our cat food and I even caught one of our cats knocking it off!

To expound on Santa...I know there are those who think the whole Santa myth is terrible. My thought is, he is a good guy who wants to encourage others to do good. He exemplifies good traits and wants to just give gifts to everyone without thought of reward to himself. He wants everyone to be good so that they can be blessed. As I said in an earlier post, Santa was an example of Christ to me before I learned about Him. We kept the Santa myth to a minimum with our own children. They could only ask Santa for one thing every year...everything else came from Mom and Dad. They could not ask Santa for elaborate gifts, since there were so many children all over the world and that would be greedy. It all worked fine, although I did get weird looks from the Santas over the years as my kids only asked for one minimal thing and even when Santa prompted them to ask for more, they stuck to their one request. Anyhow, this is just my own opinion and I understand the friends who felt strongly that the Santa myth was lying to their children. Our kids have never held the fable against me. Shelley says she still believes!

I can't wait for tomorrow! We are doing our Christmas tomorrow since we will be going to Alabama Christmas day...so I can't wait for tomorrow night when we open presents!I know I am getting an archery target...a turkey poster for the target...and 4 more arrows for Christmas from my mom and dad (I didn't mean to see them in the closet)!

Then I have more from my soon to be brother-in-law and brother in law, and sister in law...and brother...sister...sister...whew.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

I know that Matt already announced it,but wanted to give special focus to Lindley's engagement. She and Michael have dated a year now and we've really come to respect and love him for the many fine qualities he possesses. His parents have done a great job raising him. He will make a great contribution to our family, as our other two inlaw children have done. Bradly Wonsch,married to Shelley, and Ashley Snipes Evelo, married to Jared, have only enriched our family. We consider them as our children too and we welcome Michael with open arms. We always wished for more children and we see that wish coming true many years later.

I have successfully navigated signing in, utilizing the username and password Matthew has come up with. I am sure I will never remember them and will have to refer to my written down copy every time I blog now.

In the middle of many negative items in the news on an every day basis, I decided to put up our Christmas decorations early and begin celebrating the birth of Christ sooner rather than later. So the tree was up right before Thanksgiving and only one family member had a complaint about it. I've discovered I like having it all done earlier, as I have really enjoyed this Christmas season more on a daily basis. I love it when our house is decorated for Christmas. We have several nativity scenes and many Santa Claus figures. Santa Claus was a symbol of Christ to me as a young child. I was given a good-sized stuffed Santa for my 5th Christmas and vividly remember taking him to school for show and tell. As we were a military family that frequently moved and I slept with my Santa for many years, he is my surviving childhood toy. He sits under our tree every Christmas. Family members began giving me Santa Claus figures many years ago, so now I have quite a collection that our four kids can divvy up down the road. They all have their favorites.

We have had an extra bonus for this Christmas season, as Shelley and Brad are temporarily staying with us while work is being done on their house that recently flooded due to an appliance. It has been nice to have them around and there has only been one tense moment between our two girls that we could all have done without.

Life is busy, but good. Between employment, continuing Matt's home education program, service opportunities, and being with family and friends, there is not much slack time. That is okay. We enjoy what we do in our lives. We are grateful to be so richly blessed.

Myself

Once upon a time, this was a blog shared by a 16 yo boy and his mom to encourage writing. Time passed and the boy grew up and the mom is left to maintain the blog. Hence, some older posts will be by the boy who grew up, but the newer posts will all be by the mom. And life goes on!